- Kyle Dubas shut down a question about Evgeni Malkin’s future at his season-opening presser
- Malkin is playing on a one-year, $5.5 million deal he signed in May
- Read below for Dubas’ full answer and video of the press conference
Kyle Dubas isn’t going through the Evgeni Malkin contract saga again.
The Penguins GM held his season-opening press conference Monday and got asked about Malkin’s future. The reporter pointed out that Malkin said at the start of camp he wasn’t sure if this would be his last season, then asked Dubas whether Malkin understood this would be his final year in Pittsburgh when the two sides worked out his deal.
Dubas kept it to one sentence.
“I’m not going to do this day-to-day, year-by-year thing with Geno again this year,” Dubas said.
That was the whole answer. The next question was about prospects.
Watch the full press conference video (the Malkin question comes around the 27:20 mark):
Pittsburgh lived through a long, public back-and-forth with Malkin last season. Dubas called his future “a private matter for Geno” in March, while Malkin kept telling reporters he wanted one more year to prove he was still a good player.
A deal finally came on May 26, when Malkin signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract. Here’s how the Penguins announced it:
Malkin earned that contract. The Penguins legend put up 61 points (19 goals, 42 assists) in 56 games in 2025-26, then added three points in six playoff games before the Flyers knocked Pittsburgh out in the first round.
What comes after this season is anyone’s guess. Malkin, who turned 40 in July, said at the start of camp that it all comes down to how his body feels, and Metallurg Magnitogorsk has said it’s in contact with him about a KHL return.
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now took Dubas’ answer as a sign this is Malkin’s last year in Pittsburgh, though he noted some in the room read it as a shot at the media to stop asking:
Later in the presser, Dubas had a lot more to say about Malkin, just not about his contract. He talked about the bond between Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, who are starting their 21st season together, and how the team’s young Russian players look up to Malkin “with deep reverence.”
He also admitted the trio can’t go on forever.
“At this time next year, they’ll all be 40 years old, remarkably, 41 for Geno,” Dubas said. “And so it’s something that I don’t think can ever be recreated.”
Letang is the only one of the three signed past this season. Malkin and the Penguins open the year Wednesday in Philadelphia, against the same Flyers team that ended their season in the spring.
